Lend Lease, Skanska and other top New York City contractors accepted surety bonds for a key glass and metalwork subcontractor from an individual surety linked to a Florida businessman known for prior insurance scandals, according to legal documents, interviews with the people involved and an insurance investigator based in England. The bond values for all six projects was about $23 million, for which the subcontractor paid premiums of $850,000.
Starting in June 2012, the subcontractor filed for bankruptcy protection, the individual surety declined to fund its operations and the president of the individual surety said in a legal proceeding that he wasn’t sure how his signature got on company documents related to the bonds.